David Hickman

IT Systems Development

• Spearheaded the development of modern enterprise-level IT service to support a $150M engineering services firm, serving warehouse and factory logistics system integration.

Information Security & Systems Administration

• Served as the primary information security and systems administrator for Windows, Linux, AWS, Azure, XCP/NG (Xen Orchestra), networking, SD-WAN, Cloudflare, Microsoft ZeroTrust, and OpenVPN.
• Created and managed a comprehensive security awareness and training program, including onboarding, annual, and ongoing training for employees and contractors.

Enterprise Storage & Backup Solutions

• Migrated multi-site Synology-based storage to a large-scale, multisite high availability tiered storage model using TrueNAS and RSF-1, enhancing existing infrastructure.
• Implemented an enterprise-wide backup system utilizing Veeam, Xen Orchestra, internal S3 (Minio), and immutable external cloud S3 for multisite replication and ransomware protection.

Network Security & Optimization

• Reduced external attack surface by implementing overlay networking based on NetBird and WireGuard, replacing traditional VPNs and port-based network ingress.
• Migrated key applications from cloud-based services to locally hosted solutions to protect IP and conserve operational costs.

Cloud Migration & Infrastructure Restoration

• Performed a multi-phase migration from cloud file storage to Synology storage for IP protection and hypervisor infrastructure support.
• Restored multiple decommissioned datacenters as part of a cloud migration effort, including storage, Unifi Ubiquiti networking, multi-WAN, and implementing XCP-NG (Xenserver Opensource) multisite clusters with Xen Orchestra.

Multi-Factor Authentication Implementation

• Implemented 2FA across the organization using AzureAD (Entra), providing 2FA to external third-party applications via SAML/OAUTH and internal services.

Worked with Fortune 1000 customers to build out and utilize CASB services. Typical account load was about 25 clients where I handled training, optimization, support, and whatever the customer needed to succeed. Key accounts included Major League Baseball, Tractor Supply Company among others.

• Led process improvement and problem-solving efforts to create standard procedures and escalation policy for customer support team.
• Played instrumental role in client satisfaction by working with operational teams for proper resolution of service issues.
• Assisted customers with onboarding and product setup to foster successful adoption and usage.
• Created customer support strategies to increase customer retention.
• Established strong relationships with key customers, resulting in increased customer loyalty.
• Maintained professional demeanor by staying calm when addressing unhappy or angry customers.

The Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) Consultant role at Dell SecureWorks involved providing expert security services to clients, leveraging the SecureWorks security services.

The role specifically targeted churn risk customers who needed additional training, integration, and in many cases assistance in growing an information security program.

• Rescued several accounts from pending cancellation by identifying clients needs and delivering when possible, and assisting the client with developing realistic expectation when needed. This often included short notice domestic and international travel.
• Assisted many clients ranging from new to information security processes to experienced clients who are looking to expand their infosec stance
• Team Subject Matter Expert in Log Logic(syslog), API Integration, Cloud Services, Unix/Linux systems.

Developed a vulnerability management program for a state wide health system covering numerous hospitals and clinics.

• Worked with various IT teams and clinical stake holders to ensure that all IT systems were regularly checked and patched for vulnerabilities.
• Mentored systems administrators and other technical teams on how to comply with information security standards while focusing on their users needs and requirements.
• Standardized the organization on centralized syslog based logs with realtime event notification for various compliance and user needs.
• Key technologies used - Loglogic, Tenable Security Center, Nessus, Linux, etc.

Managed the forensics and litigation support lab for the University community.

Key Responsibilities:

• Incident triage to various technical teams for optimal problem solution.
• SIEM -Qradar analysis and tuning
• E-Discovery and Litigation Response
• Systems administration of Windows, Linux, and Apple systems for the various functions in the lab.

Software used:
Encase, FTK - Access Data, Linux - RedHAT, SAN, VMware ESX, KVM, Q-Radar

Selected Achievements:

• Designed and implemented a next generation virtualized forensics lab based on vmware on Macintosh platforms allowing flexibility in operating system and resource allocation.
• Implemented and manages SecurID two factor authentication for PCI compliance.
• Implemented a PCI compliance monitoring and network access control system based on commercial
  and open source software.
• Developed and implemented an distributed open source Snort based intrusion detection system integrated with a Qradar SIM which manages 500,000 – 1,000,000 events per day.
• Deployed an FTK 2.x distributed forensics processing system with 32 cores of processing.
• Implemented a vulnerability assessment infrastructure based on Nessus and Rapid7.